Current Week

Busy Week

November 15, 2018

Hello everybody out
there in farm country. This radio
commentary is brought to you by the National Corn Growers Association, CropLife
America, and Renewable Fuels Association.
They are all friends, supporters, and allies of healthy farm economy and
prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary -

Last week was really busy. Three
days at the National Association of Farm Broadcasters Convention in Kansas
City. If you listen to farm radio, your
broadcaster was probably there. I’ve
been going for almost 40 years.

After Kansas City, I went to our farm.
Harvest is all in the bin. After
a whole year of work, and thousands of dollars spent, watching that golden corn
streaming in is so exciting.

The day harvest is done, we have to go to work on next year’s
crop. Be assured we have soil tests on
our fields. The tests will tell us how
much phosphate or potash must be applied.
Does the field need lime? We all
know that we have to eat the right food to be healthy. It is the same with crops. Feed the crop the right diet to make it
produce a big yield. It is the same with
our pigs. If you are going to “bring
home the bacon,” feed them right.

Most of the people in our county live in the city – so far removed from
the farm. We need better communication
back and forth. We’re seeing that
division in politics today.

Besides the corn and soybeans that we raise, we have baby pigs born
every day. It’s cold out in
Illinois. As for the mother sows, when
they get close to the farrowing they must be brought into the barn which is
heated. We want the mothers to be
comfortable and their babies safe. We
have all of these farm experts that think they know everything. The animal rights organizations are telling
us how to care for our animals – pigs, cows, chickens, everything. What do they know? Not much.
Farmers and ranchers have a powerful incentive to provide the best of
care. Animals that are not healthy and
happy will not gain weight and thrive as they should. Bad farmers lose money. We need to make money to stay in
business. It’s as simple as that.

I wanted to say a little bit about the scorching fires burning down
more than 200,000 acres in California and killing more than 40 people. We don’t know how many more will be found
burned to death. We wouldn’t have to
accept such devastation if we had better forest management. We need to manage our forests better. Over the years, especially in California,
environmental groups have pushed through all kinds of restrictive laws.

Trees die from drought. They are
not removed. They dry and are ideal for
firewood. We could thin the forests if
lumber companies were allowed to harvest the lumber. But NO – that might be bad for endangered
species.

Hopefully, these deadly fires will revive some common sense forest
management.

Previous Weeks

September 1 2018

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the National Corn Growers Association, CropLife America, and Renewable Fuels Association. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary -

It’s hard to believe, but summer is all but gone. We are looking at harvest season. Get that combine ready to go. Labor Day is next Monday.

August 23 2018

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the National Corn Growers Association, CropLife America, and Renewable Fuels Association. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary -

Wild fires in California and other Western states have burned more than 1,000 square miles of timberland and grassland. 14 people have died and thousands of homes have been…

August 16 2018

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the National Corn Growers Association, CropLife America, and Renewable Fuels Association. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary -

I am talking to you on the phone from our farm in Illinois. Our corn and soybeans are beautiful. I picked some ears. Most ears are 18 rows round – some are 16 rows. That is a…

August 9 2018

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the National Corn Growers Association, CropLife America, and Renewable Fuels Association. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary -

Good news – ethanol exports are up 33% so far this year. By year’s end, we should exceed last year’s record of 1.38 billion gallons.

August 2 2018

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the National Corn Growers Association, CropLife America, and Renewable Fuels Association. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary -

The current Farm Bill runs out at the end of September. Will we get a new one? If so, when? Thanks to the efforts of Senate Ag Committee Chairman Pat Roberts and Ranking Democrat…

July 27 2018

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the National Corn Growers Association, CropLife America, and Renewable Fuels Association. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary -

I’m going to focus on some different issues today. Trade is in the spotlight. We can only encourage the U.S. and the countries that we have challenged – Canada, Mexico, EU,…

July 18 2018

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the National Corn Growers Association, CropLife America, and Renewable Fuels Association. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary -

President Trump has dominated all the press headlines in recent days. He met with NATO leaders and criticized them for not doing their share to pay for European defense. He is…

July 11 2018

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the National Corn Growers Association, CropLife America, and Renewable Fuels Association. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary -

Before I focus on this week’s subject, I just want to say a few words about the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Scott Pruitt led the EPA as President Trump’s…

July 7 2018

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the National Corn Growers Association, CropLife America, and Renewable Fuels Association. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary -

Here are some of my observations after two weeks in China, leading a delegation of 30 farm broadcasters and farm leaders. It is not the China that I visited 40 years ago. That…

June 28 2018

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This is Rick Frank sitting in for John Block. This radio commentary is brought to you by the National Corn Growers Association, CropLife America, and Renewable Fuels Association. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary -

The Trump Administration reportedly plans to move up to $110 billion of USDA food assistance programs to a new “welfare” agency…